Mental health problems amongst university students pose a major public health challenge, and this is particularly the case in Pakistan. Alongside broader societal and cultural pressures, cognitive factors likely also play a role in the development of and resilience to mental health problems and may provide a feasible target for interventions. The current study built on previous research in primarily European samples investigating the relationship between one cognitive factor, positive future-oriented mental imagery, and mental health, extending this to a sample of university students in Pakistan (N = 1838). In a cross-sectional design, higher vividness of positive future-oriented mental imagery was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms and higher levels of positive mental health amongst participants completing questionnaire measures on paper (N = 1430) or online (N = 408). In the sample completing the measures on paper, these relationships remained statistically significant even when controlling for socio-demographic and mental health-related variables. The results provide a foundation for further investigating positive mental imagery as a potential mechanism of mental health and intervention target amongst university students in Pakistan.

中文翻译：

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巴基斯坦大学生的积极心理意象和心理健康

大学生的心理健康问题构成了重大的公共卫生挑战，在巴基斯坦尤其如此。除了更广泛的社会和文化压力外，认知因素也可能在心理健康问题的发展和恢复力中发挥作用，并可能为干预措施提供可行的目标。目前的研究建立在先前对主要欧洲样本的研究基础上，调查了一种认知因素、积极的面向未来的心理意象和心理健康之间的关系，并将其扩展到巴基斯坦的大学生样本（N  = 1838）。在横断面设计中，在纸质（N  = 1430）或在线（N  = 408）完成问卷调查的参与者中，面向未来的积极心理意象的生动性与较低水平的抑郁症状和较高水平的积极心理健康相关。 。在完成纸上测量的样本中，即使控制了社会人口统计和心理健康相关变量，这些关系仍然具有统计显着性。研究结果为进一步研究积极心理意象作为巴基斯坦大学生心理健康的潜在机制和干预目标奠定了基础。